Du Page Leaves Man Stuck In Septic Swamp

Springtime is gum boot time out back of the Stein residence in Bloomingdale, where the saturated, squishy ground gives way underfoot and every step east sends you deeper into a septic swamp.

Patches of dead grass, black mud and standing water have more or less taken over what once was a lush play area for Peter Stein`s three children. And the Du Page County Health Department has dropped by this fashionable, upper middle class development more than once to note that Stein`s back yard bog has turned into a significant health hazard.

``It gets progressively worse each year,`` says Stein, who is in the semitrailer business and who has been seeking in vain a political solution to his sewage problem. ``We`re not even going to fill the above-ground pool this year. We`d just have to slush through the yard to get to it.``

All public officials seem to do is sympathize:

Bloomingdale administrators tell him tough luck, there is a lot of clay in the soil, making it hard and unabsorbent. County health inspectors tell him too bad, the water table is high in his area, especially during the rainy season. Leaders in Glendale Heights, which is just over Stein`s back fence, say cry me a river, we can`t let nonresidents hook up to our sewer pipes.

So Stein stews, waiting in dread for those hot, muggy days of summer when . . . well, you know.

Public health officials estimate there are well over 100,000 septic tank systems in the six-county Chicago area. They are found in neighborhoods without municipal sewers and generally consist of a several-thousand-gallon underground collection tank for solid waste and a network of pipes and trenches to leach overflow liquid--including bath water and sink runoff--into the soil.

Spring thaws and rains can throw off the delicate balance of absorption and evaporation that keep septic systems working efficiently. Roy

Dzierzanowski, assistant director of environmental health for Cook County, says his office will get callers complaining about septic tanks in

unincorporated areas ``almost every day`` during rainy seasons.

``It`s a frequent problem for us,`` says Stan Szczap, a Du Page County Health Department supervisor. ``When you get sewage on the ground, children and pets can play in it, insects can come around and spread disease and you get a real strong odor.``

Homes in Stein`s Indian Lakes development ring a picturesque golf course and sell for $100,000 to $300,000. A dozen or more of Stein`s neighbors also suffer, to a lesser degree, from septic overflow caused by poor soil drainage and runoff, although no one has joined with him to solve the recurring problem.

Stein has lived in his two-story house for nine years, but the septic problem didn`t really surface, as it were, until two years ago.

Contractors and repair companies sampled the soil, took a look at Stein`s system and clucked regretfully. A health department inspector told him it would be ``fruitless`` to repair or replace the system. The Village of Bloomingdale told him it would cost some $3 million to install municipal sewers for the more than 400 homes in Indian Lakes, and pointed out that the majority of people in the development had solidly rejected a special tax to fund such a project several times.

Stymied and still sinking in the slough, Stein sought sewer service from the village of Glendale Heights, which was already laying pipe for the Plaza West Lakes apartment complex, which you could see from the deck of Stein`s swimming pool, if you could get to it with dry feet.

President Jeri Sullivan told Stein and local newspapers that had picked up the story that the Glendale Heights board appreciated his problem, but was unwilling to run pipes into unannexed property.

Meanwhile, back in Bloomingdale, Stein tried to argue that his back yard quagmire was rapidly turning into a problem for the whole village, ``if you know what I mean.``

Village Administrator Robert Reeves said that the installation of sewer service falls under the heading of property improvement, and Bloomingdale could hardly justify spending general tax revenues to boost the value of Indian Lakes homes by up to $10,000 each.

Generally, sewers are paid for with special tax assessments that hit only the homeowners involved. A proposal rejected by Indian Lakes residents several years ago would have funded sewers by adding some $600 to $800 a year to each homeowner`s property tax bill for 10 years.

The cost of installing a home septic system runs $5,000 and up. The systems are often called upon to handle several hundred gallons of water a day. And when the earth is hard clay, as it is throughout much of the Chicago area, ``it`s often just a matter of time,`` said Reeves, ``before the liquid has nowhere to go and you get a little problem.``

About Stein`s back yard, Reeves said the Bloomingdale Village Board is

``concerned but powerless. We don`t really have any solutions,`` he said.

``He needs to talk to an engineer. Talking to the newspapers isn`t going to solve Mr. Stein`s problem.``

Szczap says the Du Page County Health Department ``won`t tell him how to fix the problem, just that he`s got to do some work on his own. It`s his responsibility. If he needs any assistance, we`re there.``

The health department has issued Stein a notice of violation and given him until April 22 to correct his problem. If he has not somehow cleaned it up by then, health officials probably will refer the case to the state`s attorney`s office, who can prosecute Stein for a Class B misdemeanor, the maximum fine for which is $200 a day.

Meanwhile, Stein`s kids play on their skateboards in the driveway, and summer is on the way.